This past week, Herbal Apprentices made Medicine of Roses, collected from their own home gardens and wild, on a forest path. The teachings of Roses are many and varied, and the same with the various parts and aspects of Rose.

One of the aspects that come most to my mind, was a thorough looking at the whole plant. What beautiful flowers we commune with and dance with! What amazing medicine for the heart! But, sometimes, when we look deeper, we see a deeper aspect shared by the Rose.

The Rose shares the story of its whole being with us. Sometimes, after a beautiful flowering, the branches may brown. We may wish for this flower to grow again, but it will not. And so we stare, at the branch turning brown, in a touching despair.

And then the hope, the Light of the Divine shines forth! We trim the branches that do not look so hot, their time being done, their dance already played. For the quiet death of a Rose Plant can happen by holding onto these branches too long.

Overtime, if left unattended, the plant grows large and wiley, with many dead and dying branches, with no new growth allowed through for a chance in the sun. It may be a beautiful discovery on some old forest path, but a deep shame can pervade the air, of flowers that never had a chance to be because the Rose Tender, or the Forest Spirit, would not let those branches go.

Looking at the plant in such a whole fashion, we can see what needs to go, that is dying off a bit, and let the new ones grow! It is the Divine Rebirth of such possibility! Do you see the Faith of the Rose? Does the Rose Tender have such Faith?

And the Rose Blossoms make medicines, that heal that Divine Tear or Eye Tear, mending the Heart so Fine, so capable of new love, of loving with a different branch, the old branch fertilizing the root of the Rose Being again.

And such is the dance of a heart so fine, for if it never loved, the Rose would not put forth blossoms, it would prefer to skip to the browning before the blooming, and life would be but a withered mess with no possibility.

But, as ever, where there is Faith, there is Hope. Where Hope is Conscience and Charity. Where there is Charity, there are brown branches renewing the roots, in an act of Love so great. And the green tips grow, producing more branches, and more Roses. No two the same, but one delightful Being.

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Thank you Brenda! Our class was making this rose medicine for someone who is healing, and so we were, literally making this medicine for healing…but there is a large Hungarian tradition of spiritual healing from Rose, so it is very, very old in that way.